Howie Mandel gets 'Mobbed' again

Howie Mandel

Jay BobbinZap2It

If there was doubt that people enjoy being "Mobbed," it was erased last March.

A Howie Mandel-produced Fox special about the flash mob phenomenon scored ratings so impressive that the network ordered more editions the next day. The first of the 10 new installments airs Wednesday, Nov. 23, and Mandel -- who's also the host -- and company help set up flash mobs that use song and dance to inform surprised people of everything from marriage proposals to job terminations.

"This whole thing is unprecedented," Mandel says of being asked for more "Mobbed" so quickly. "You usually go in and pitch a show that is like another show, and this is not like any other show, on so many levels. This is a huge production with more moving parts than most things on TV, and we're doing it without a net."

By that, Mandel means the result of a "Mobbed" segment may not be what's intended: Someone might not accept an elaborately staged proposal, or a person might not react well to meeting a relative he never knew he had. And it may not even get that far to begin with.

"You're asking the network to put up all this money for something that may not even come to fruition," Mandel allows. "It's all based on one person showing up, and you can't guarantee that. What do you do if they don't show up? You've organized a thousand dancers just to get a reaction out of that one person."

Now in his offseason as a judge on NBC's "America's Got Talent," Mandel also is doing many stand-up comedy dates. He anticipates the rest of the new "Mobbed" episodes getting a regular slot early in the new year ... likely paired with "American Idol," since having that hugely popular Fox show as a lead-in helped "Mobbed" to its initial ratings success.

"I like watching these flash mobs online," Mandel says, "and I went deeper into that than most people probably would. I like that they're not done on a stage but in a mall or a train station. I've always liked the 'Candid Camera' idea of watching people's real reactions. Here, they're in the midst of a musical in a food court."